Quotes From Laurence Tureaud

Today, I found myself using one of his terms. "Jibber-jabber." Someone was talking nonsense. More of Mr. Turead, aka "Mr. T," and his philosophical stylings:

1. "As a kid, I got three meals a day. Oatmeal, miss-a-meal and no meal. "

2. " I believe in the Golden Rule - The Man with the Gold... Rules."

3. "When I was growing up, my family was so poor we couldn't afford to pay attention. "

4. "I remember one time I tried to pity this fool. He told me his name was Jeff. He was married. He pulled out his wallet and showed me three pictures of his kids; Kelly, Robert, Brittany. Real cute kids. Don't get too close man. It's hard to pity a fool if you get too close." Word.

5. "I think about my father being called 'boy,' my uncle being called 'boy,' my brother, coming back from Vietnam and being called 'boy.' So I questioned myself: 'What does a black man have to do before he's given the respect as a man?' So when I was 18 years old, when I was old enough to fight and die for my country, old enough to drink, old enough to vote, I said I was old enough to be called a man. I self-ordained myself Mr. T so the first word out of everybody's mouth is 'Mr.' That's a sign of respect that my father didn't get, that my brother didn't get, that my mother didn't get. " My mom has never been called "Mr." either and I don't know why.

My favorite exploration of jibber-jabber came during a Daily Show interview with Mr. T. He was on complaining about a bunch of Best Buy ads that he felt demeaned him. He said the explanation he got from the company was "jibber-jabber."

The interviewer (Colbert?) asked him, "Was it more jibber or more jabber?"

"Definitely more jibber. But there was some jabber too."

More quotes from him here.